The German National Library of Science and Technology has signed up to support Fair Open Access via FOAA. Quoting from the press release:

Prof. Johan Rooryck, President of FOAA, was pleased to welcome the German National Library of Science and Technology on board: “TIB has agreed to support one of the journals of Mathematics in Open Access (MathOA) that are flipping to Fair Open Access. TIB is the first Supporting Participant to join us since we started FOAA in the summer of 2017, and we hope to welcome many more libraries and organisations in the future. We have set up a participant program for this purpose.”

http://www.mathoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mathoatransparentbackground.png00Mark Wilsonhttp://www.mathoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/mathoatransparentbackground.pngMark Wilson2017-11-09 17:26:392017-11-09 17:26:39MathOA is now on Twitter

We are pleased to announce that Foundation Compositio Mathematica is financially supporting the activities of MathOA. The Foundation already supports journals Algebraic Geometry and SIGMA which run along Fair Open Access lines. It also supports mathematics via subsidies for mathematical conferences, prizes for mathematical accomplishments and other initiatives.

At the end of June 2017, the four editors-in-chief of the Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics informed Springer that they will not renew their contracts, which terminate on 31 December 2017. All of the editorial board members have also resigned, to form the editorial board of a new journal that has been called Algebraic Combinatorics, run according to Fair Open Access Principles. Algebraic Combinatorics is now up and running with interim editors-in-chief Satoshi Murai and Vic Reiner. The transition to Fair Open Access was supported by the organisation Mathematics in Open Access (MathOA).

The editors of the Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics are Akihiro Munemasa, Christos Athanasiadis, Hugh Thomas and Hendrik van Maldeghem. Once their contracts with Springer expire, they will become editors-in-chief at Algebraic Combinatorics.

Those skeptical about whether this plan will work should look at the journal’s website and editorial platform. From the horse’s mouth:

‘We have had about 46 submissions in the last two months, of which roughly 12 or so were withdrawn from JACO and resubmitted to us, and 4 of those have already been accepted– the rest are in process, and that seems to be going smoothly’, says Vic Reiner. ‘The volume of submissions has been pretty exciting, and we are of course maintaining our high standard. We are confident that we can have the first issue in January 2018. And, of course, there is the fact that now all of the editorial board have resigned from JACO with the EiC’s, and all but two re-joined the ALCO board, with the two resigning due to age. Also, community support remains strong. Everyone I talk to at meetings is very happy about it, and thanks us.’

The editors-in-chief and editorial board of Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics, currently published by Springer, have given notice of resignation. The Editors-in-Chief will see out their contracts with the old journal, until 31 December 2017. They will start a new journal, Algebraic Combinatorics, run according to the principles of Fair Open Access.The new journal, to be published in association with Centre Mersenne, is already open for business, with interim editors Victor Reiner and Satoshi Murai. To my knowledge this is the first time a mathematics journal has switched from a large commercial publisher to an open access model, let alone Fair Open Access. We hope it starts a trend, and congratulate the editors in chief Akihiro Munemasa, Hendrik van Maldeghem, Christos Athanasiadis and Hugh Thomas.

In order to facilitate the rapid conversion of existing subscription journals to a “Fair Open Access” model based on open access, no author fees, and control by the research community, the MathOA foundation has been established in December 2016. It is modelled on the linguistics organization LingOA. Further disciplinary “xOA” organizations are being created, and an overarching Fair Open Access Alliance is also planned.

The main purpose of MathOA is to smooth the way for editorial boards to negotiate with commercial publishers, and to resign and set up the converted journal if required. Finding transitional and sustainable funding is a key task of MathOA. We are actively pursuing funding options and discussions with editorial boards.

MathOA is a non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands, a so-called Stichting in compliance with Dutch law. MathOA is formally governed by its board members and the executive editors of participating journals. The board members are:

President: Jos Baeten (CWI Amsterdam)

Secretary: Mark C. Wilson (Auckland)

Treasurer: Lieke Schultze (CWI Amsterdam)

Benoît Kloeckner (Paris-Est – Créteil Val-de-Marne)

Johan Rooryck (Leiden)

Guidance on project direction and admission of new journals is determined by the academic advisory board: